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SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
REFERENCE BOOK
Not to be taken from the Library
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBHAHY
3 1223 90187 1575
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CITY A1TD COUNTY OP S\N FRANCISCO
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION
DOCUMENTS
MAY 20 1966
[. HISTORY .
1. Ayuntamiento,
The present-day Boc.rd cf Supervisors represents the develop-
ment of a succession of legislative bodies which preceded it
under Mexican rule. The first half of the nineteenth
century was a period of numerous and sweeping cnanges in the
Mexican government, but in 1836 an entirely new Constitution
was adopted. Under it there was established in San Francisco;
then known as Yerba Buena, a legislative body, the forerunner
of today's 3oard of Supervisors, designated as the
Ayuntamiento. The members of the Ayuntamiento were appointed
by the territorial officials, and their duties were curiously
similar to those of the Board of Supervisors in modern times.
They irere required to provide for, arcong other local affairs,
the following: health, convenience, ornament, order and
security within the city; cleanliness of streets; regula-
tion of duality of meats and drugs; establishment of
prisons; hospitals and charitable institutions; birth, death
and marriage records; an adequate water sup ily; straight,
paved and lighted streets; guideboards at road intersections
to show directions and distances to the nearest Pueblo; and
schools.
In l8)(.9 there was held the first meeting of the Ayuntamiento,
or town council, under .\merican rule. John \'. Geary was the
first Alcalde, or Mayor, and he sat as President of the
Council. Today, the Mayor has a sect in the Board of Super-
visors, with a rir^ht to participate in the Board's debates,
but lie is not entitled to vote.
2. Consolidation Act.
In lb^O, the City of San Francisco was created by an act' of
the State Legislature. The city offices were independent
of the offices of the County of San Francisco, and thus i
there were two sets of officials, one for the city and one
for the county. Then, in 1856, the so-called Consolidation
Act was passed by the Legislature, It consolidated the city
and county governments into one, with geographic and politi-
cal boundaries being coterminous. At that time, as now,
San Francisco enjoys the only governmental set-up of this
consolidated nature in California. Some of its officers
are essentially city officials, others are county officers,
and usually it is the nature of the official act they are
called upon to perform which determines whether they are
acting in a city or county capacity.
3. Home Rule.
In 1900, San Francisco came under the operation of its first
home-rule charter. Prior to that time, it acted as a so-
called general law city, and all of its functions were
exercised under the general authority of St?te statutes.
By determining that they would take advantage of the home-
rule provisions of the State Constitution, the people of
the City and County took the position, in effect, that as
to all matters of purely municipal concern (by that is
meant all those nrtters not of State-wide scope, over which
the State retains full power to legislate), the local law
would be supreme.
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k» 1932 Charter.
The first home-rule charter remained as the basic local law
until the year 1932, when it was superseded by the Charter
presently in effect. The significant changes effected by
the present Charter consist of provisions for a fundamentally
strong-Mayor form of government, with a substantial amount
of power vested in a Chief Administrative Officer, and for
fiscal operations to be carried out on a cash basis.
ORGANIZATION.
Under the present Charter, the Board of Supervisors consists
of eleven members elected at large. That is they are not
elected by districts or wards, as was the coso in the past
and as is now the case in many other cities, but are elected
from the community as a whole. Also, in past times, the
Board has numbered eighteen or fifteen instead of eleven.
The number has gradually dwindled in order to avoid a body
so large as to be unwieldy, while retaining a sufficient
number to assure a representative group of men and women
in elective legislative office. To run for the office of
supervisor a person must be a voting citizen who has lived
in San Francisco for at least five years. He must file a
declaration of candidacy with the registrar of voters,
stating in one hundred words or less his qualifications,
together with certificates of ten to twenty sponsors. He
must pay a fee of $30.
The terms of the members are staggered so that in consecutive
odd numbered years, six are elected in one such year and
five in the next such year. The salary of each member is
}9600 per year. The positions are part-time, at least in
theory, but the Board meetings each week, the numerous
committee meetings which are scheduled, and the cx-officio
meetings which arc demanded of the members have mounted
tremendously in volume during the past three decades, along
with the rapid growth of the community and the greatly
expanded scope of services provided by the municipality,
and therefore in actual practice the positions are full-time
in every sense of the word except possibly for the remunera-
tion which they command. Vacancies in the membership of the
Board are filled by appointment of the Mayor for the unexpired
term.
The voters have kept for themselves the power to "fire" any
elected official before his term is up. The way in which
this is done is known as the recall. In San Francisco the
voters have this power, which is exercised by getting a
percentage of the voters to sign a petition directing that
a special reccll election be held. Supervisors, as well as
other elected officials, may be removed by use of the recall.
They may also be suspended by the Mayor, and then be removed
by a three-fourths vote of the Board of Supervisors based on
written charges preferred by the Mayor.
The personnel of the Board of Supervisors traditionally repre-
sents a broad cross-section of the people of San Franc isco e
In past years, it was not uncommon to find prototypes of the
popular image of cigar-smoking politicians included in the
membership. The color and glamor which they brought to the
Board, and, too, the very real contributions which they made
to the welfare and progress of the City have found permanent
places in the history of San Francisco. Today we find, in
keeping with modern trends, a somewhat different type of
citizen who is attracted to service on the Board. The
present membership includes leading representatives of the
community's professional, business and labor groups., There
is often a preponderance of members from the legal profession
on the Board, but far from detracting from the value of
the Board's efforts, their presence has brought an incisive
and eminently fair quality to the Board's work which has won
acclaim from all segments of the community.
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POuLRS, DUTILS AND FUNCTIONS
1. Board vs. Council.
Under the terms of the present Charter, theoretically, the
functions of the Board of Supervisors are strictly legis-
lative in character, except in one or two isolated instances
where the Board acts in a quasi- judicial capacity. Because
San Francisco has a consolidated city and county government,
your legislative body rets in a dual capacity - as a Board
of Supervisors, and a.lso as a City Council. In some
instances, the Board acts pursuant to authority of St°te
law, and in other matters under the authority of its home-
rule Charter.
2. Charter - residual powers of the Board.
Our Charter does not represent, as is commonly thought, a
grant of powers to the City and County. Rather, it has been
defined as a limitation on the full and complete powers
vested in local officials when the people of San Francisco
decided they would be home-ruled with respect to their
municipal affairs. The Charter outlines the duties of the
various officers and departments, and then it goes on to
say that the power's of the city and county, except the
powers reserved to the people or delegated to other officials,
boards or commissions shall be vested in the Board of
Supervisors. Also, it has an important provision to the
effect that the exercise of all rights and powers of the
city and county when not prescribed in the charter shall be
as provided by ordinance or resolution of the Board of
Supervisors. Therefore, it can be seen that the authority
of the Board extends over a very wide range of municipal
affairs.
In one area, the Charter sets out very strict limitations on
the powers of the Board. It says that neither the Board,
nor its committees, nor any of its members shall dictate,
suggest or interfere with appointments, promotions, compen-
sations, disciplinary actions, contracts, requisitions for
purchases or other administrative reconnen'aations or actions
of the Chief Adminis trative Officer, or of department heads
under him, or under the respective boards or commissions.
.Any violation shall constitute official misconduct which
will justify removal from office.
It was the policy of the Board of Freeholders which framed
the Charter to effectively deprive the Board of Supervisors
of all administrative powers - "hands off" was their inten-
tion, and that intention has been substantially observed
since 1932. However, from a practical point of view,
indirectly, the authority of the Board finds expression in
connection with most of the functions of government, and
this is particularly true in affairs involving the appro-
priation and expenditure of moneys. hany of the Board's
actions and functions are inextricably related to the
administrative operations of government*
3. Quasi- judicial functions*
The Board of Supervisors departs from its traditional role
as a legislative body when it sits in a judicial capacity
in a fe*r matters which come before it officially for
adjudication, Examples are its actions as a court of appeal
from decisions of the City Planning Commission in zoning
matters, its adjudication of applications for reduction of
assessments proposed by the Assessor, and its consideration
of appeals from street work assessments imposed by the
Department of Public Wbrka,
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LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES.
1. Committee structure.
The Board of Supervisors operates somewhat along the lines
of the United States Congress and the California Legislature
in that it has a number of committees which screen matters
presented to the Board. After preliminary consideration,
the committoos either send the proposed measures along to
the full Board for a voir,, or table them if they are con-
sidered to be of doubtful merit. The standing committees
of the Board number eleven, and they are designed to have
initial jurisdiction over every conceivable object of
official action. For example, there is a Finance Committee
which considers all matters affecting in any way the
finances, revenues, toxo3 and fiscal procedure of the City
and County; a Hoalth Committee which hears proposals por-
taining to public health; a Streets and Transportation Com-
mittee which entertains all matters relating to freeways,
street improvements and transit facilities; and so on.
2. Public Hearings.
In the course of their deliberations, the committees (to
each of which is assigned an experienced Assistant Clerk of
the Board for necessary clerical and administrative assis-
tance) mail notices to all ascertainable interested persons
who might be in favor of or opposed to an issue, set up a
calendar of business, and then hold a public hearing, usually
in the Committee meeting room on the second floor of the
City Hall. The Committee (usually consisting of three Board
members) at the appointed time calls the particular item up
for discussion, and everyone interested is accorded an oppor-
tunity to be fully heard. Then the Committee decides that
it will send the measure on to the full Board with a recom-
mendation that it be approved, or it may desire to hold addi-
tional hearings in the future, or it may conclude that the
matter is not a meritorious one and direct that it be filed
or tabled. The parliamentary rules followed by the Com-
mittees are essentially the same as those in use at Board
meetings, except that the privilege of the floor is extended
as a matter of course.
3. Charter amendments.
One of the primary duties of the Board is to screen and pass
along to the voters proposals for amendment of the Charter.
The original 1932 Charter has been amended by having sections
added or deleted or altered in more than 350 instances. The
freeholders no doubt would have difficulty in recognizing
some of the provisions over which they labored so hard and
long, but the constant change is quite understandable when
one considers the infinite technological, sociological and
ideological changes which have occurred in the past three
decades and which undoubtedly will continue to occur in the
future. A charter amendment must be sponsored personally
by a member of the Board. After its introduction, it is
referred to the Governmental Services Committee for public
hearings and careful review. If it survives that test, it
is sent along to the Board, which, with the concurrence of
six affirmative votes, may pass it on to the voters at the
next following election. If a majority of the electors favor
it, then it is transmitted to the State Legislature for
approval, following which it is filed with the Secretary of
State and thus becomes a part of the organic law of the City
and County. The Charter and amendments to it, incidentally,
have the stature of State law, and so are superior to purely
local law in the form of ordin ces.
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il. Ordinances
The highest form of action taken by the Board of Supervisors
is an ordinance. It is an act or lav; of a-local govern-
mental agency, in this case the Board of Supervisors, duly
enacted by the proper authorities and expressed in written
ordaining form. It has been defined as a local law of a
municipal corporation, duly enacted by proper authorities,
prescribing general, uniform and permanent rules of con-
duct, relating to the corporate affairs cf the municipality.
For instance, regulations involving persons or property
which impose a penalty by fine, imprisonment or forfeiture
for their violation must always be in the form of an or-
dinance. Our Charter specifies somewhat vaguely that
every legislative act shall be by ordinance, but our dif-
ficulty has been in obtaining a satisfactory and defini-
tive explanation of what constitutes a legislative act.
Legal authorities as yet have not attempted a categorical
definition.
It might be informative to trace the path taken by a pro-
posed ordinance in order to have an understanding of the
processing to which it is subjected. An ordinance must
be introduced by a Board member at a meeting of the Board,
As a matter of actual practice, most of those proposed
ordinances which are received from the several department
heads during the week, in the Clark's office, are listed
in the Board's calendar of matters for the following
Monday meeting, with a note appended to each indicating
to which Committee they are being referred by the
President, and it is implied that the introduction of
such measure is being made by the President. Other
proposed ordinances, however, may be and are introduced
individually during the meeting by the sponsoring
Supervisors,
Following, or perhaps prior to, the Board meeting at
which Committee referral takes place, the ordinance is
processed in the Senior Legislative Clerk's section of
the Clerk's office. There it is indexed on a Kardex
card, on which a complete chronological history will be
maintained, and on a Chaindex card which will provide an
alphabetical lead to its whereabouts, A file jacket is
prepared, with a history sheet and with a permanently
assigned number, so that for all time easy identification
of the subject matter may be assured.
After introduction, tho ordinance is referred via the
Rules Committee to a Committee of the Board for public
hearings, unless it is an emergency measure, in which
case the Board may either send It to Committee, or enact
it immediately, by at least nine affirmative votus,
without reference to Committee.
During Committee consideration, both sides of any contro-
versial issue are fully heard, departmental reports and
recommendations are received and studied, .and every
facet of the proposal is explored in order that the
Committee may formulate an informed recommendation for
Board action.
After the ordinance has been reported out to the Board by
the Committee, unless it is an emergency measure, it must
be passed at two separate meetings, requiring at least
six votes to pass at each of the two readings. Thereafter,
it goes back to the Senior Legislative Clerk's section
for recordation in a volume which cross-indexes file and
ordinance numbers, is transmitted to the Mayor's office
for his signature and comesback to the Clerk's office
for permanent filing in a bound volume. At the same
time, an exact copy is delivered to the official newspaper
for printing. On passage for second reading, the ordin-
ance is printed in full. Upon final passage, a notice
including the title of the ordinance, together with an
indication that it has finally passed, is printed. In
this way, ample public notice of proposed legislation
is given, and the constitutional requirement of due
and adequate notice is met,
The Charter specifies thct each ordinance shell be prepared
or approved as to form by the City Attorney, but in prac-
tice it has been found that a great number are drafted in
the Clerk's office. The Board enacts several hundred or-
dinances annually, and also considers a considerable number
in addition, which for one reason or another never reach
the stage of final enactment.
5. Resolutions.,
Another form of Board action is the resolution. A resolution
generally speaking is a proposal submitted in 'writing, the
effective clause of which is "Resolved that,.,". It is more
formal than any business submitted orally and called a
motion, and is less formal than the ordinance. It usually
does not demand the legal processing required of an ordin-
ance, and can be passed after consideration at only one
Board meeting, instead of two. A resolution cannot contain
a penal clause, and is usually employed in expressing declar-
ations of policy, discharging functions of an administrative
rather than purely legislative nature, acting in a capacity
involving ceremonial expression or social amenities, and
performing Supervisorial duties of a transitory nature,
which have no permanent or lasting effect.
The Board adopts approximately seven hundred resolutions
each year, and at the same time considers and rejects several
hundred for which no need can be determined. In the main,
they are processed in the same manner as ordinances.
6. Motions.
The third form of official expression ordinarily employed by
the Board of Supervisors is the motion. A motion has been
defined as a proposal that a deliberative assembly take cer-
tain action, or that it express itself as holding certain
views. It has been said that it is the inherent right of
every parliamentary body to act by motion. A motion is the
least formal of the Board's forms of action, is ordinarily
made orally and usually pertains to parliamentary or intra-
Board matters. If it is of substantial importance or length,
it usually must be presented as a written resolution.
BOARD MEETINGS.
1. Agenda.
The Charter requires that the Board of Supervisors meet in
the legislative chambers on the second floor of the City Hall,
and that regular meetings be hold. The Board, by resolution,
has decreed that its regular meetings shall be held each
Monday (or the next succeeding regular business day) com-
mencing at 2:00 p.m. The public is invited, and the average
attendance is moderate, rising or declining according to the
degree of community interest in calendared items.
On the Friday afternoon preceding each Monday's Board meeting
the Clerk's office prepares a mimeographed Calendar of
Matters which includes all items regularly scheduled to be
considered and acted upon at the meeting. Copies of the
Calendar are sent to the homes or offices of the members in
order that they may familiarize themselves with its con-
tents over the weekend. In addition, approximately two
hundred copies of the Calendar are run off for the use of
the public, the press, and interested departmental repre-
sentatives. No mailing list is maintained due to the paucity
of Clerk's personnel, the attendant expense, and the diffi-
culty which would be experienced in keeping such a list
current. Interested persons are invited to call at the
Clerk's office for their copies at any time after L\.:00 p»m.
on Friday afternoon.
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2. Ordor of Business.
The Board meeting follows a proscribed pattern, laid down
in the Board's Rules of Order which deal with various
matters of parliamentary procedure. Although there is
provision for suspension of the rules, the Board ordinar-
ily follows quite closely the prescribed order of business,
which is:
(1) Roll Call.
(2) Pledge of Allegiance.
(3) Approval of Journal.
()|.) Communications.
(5>) Calendar Matters.
(6) Reports of Committees.
(7) Roll Call for introduction or presentation of
measures not considered or reported on by
committee.
The listed order is self-explanatory, but it is interesting
to note that the catch-all item listed as number seven is
the phase of the Board's proceedings which often produces
the most interesting and constructive measures. That is
the last port of the day's program when each member, in
alphabetical order, may address his colleagues on any matter,
within the Board's sphere of jurisdiction, in which he
happens to be interested. Then he may bring up unscheduled,
uncalendared, and previously undiscussed matters, and either
ask for immediate action thereon by vote of the Board, or for
referral to Committee for further study and ultimate recom-
mendation for Boord action. Or, he may moke inquiry about
the state of any City affairs, and request a report thereon
from the interested departments. The scope of the Board's
power to inquire into departmental affairs is extremely
broad.
3. Parliamentary Procedure.
As mentioned above, the parliamentary procedure followed by
the Board is laid down in its Rules of Order. The Rules
comprehensively cover the mechanical aspects of the Board's
proceedings and the procedural course which its meeting and
the matters before it must take. Included are rules pertain-
ing to attendance at meetings, consideration of motions,
voting requirements, privilege of the floor, special orders
of business, and the like. Also included are the prescribed
duties of the presiding officer of the Bo a rd whose title is
President.
The President of the Board has a number of important func-
tions to perform. Among them are the appointment of the
membership of all standing and special committees and their
respective chairman, the designation of Board representa-
tives to attend meetings and conventions of other organiza-
tions, the assignment of seats and offices for the use of the
members, the preservation of order and decorum, the decision
of all questions of order, and so on. In addition, the
President authenticates by his signature, when necessary,
all documents issued or authorized by order of the Board and
represents the Board when requested at official and cere-
monial functions. A great deal of his time is occupied in
discharging the duties of his office, and in substantial
measure the President is looked to throughout the community
for an explanation of the various positions taken by the
Board.
l+. Journal of Proceedings.
The report of the official actions taken by the Board at
its regular and special meetings is contained in a pub-
lication designated .: th. Journal of Proceedings. The
Charter provides that the Clerk of the Board shall keep
such a journal. Pursuant to the Charter's edict, a
printed account of the Board's action is prepared and
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permanently maintained. The purpose of the Journal is
primarily, if not entirely, to provide a fair and complete
record of the proceedings in the Board's meetings. If
accurate, complete and unambiguous matters are recorded,
they will be treated by the courts as conclusive evidence
of the facts therein stated. Also, it is the acts of the
members of the Board in assembling together at the proper
time and place, and the casting of their votes on the
various measures presented to them, which determine the
validity or invalidity of their actions. Nevertheless, a
sufficient record must be made of their activities in order
to furnish satisfactory evidence of not only the subject
matter of the Board's decisions, but of the fact that they
are adopted in accordance with the law by which the Board
is governed.
After the Journal is printed, a number of official copies
is signed by the Clerk and held for binding and permanent
retention. Other copies are distributed to an official
mailing list, for information and retention. Thereafter,
the contents of the Journal are completely indexed by the
Clerk's office and the index, after typing, is bound and
retained in permanent form.
SCOPE OF BOARD ACTIONS,
The Board of Supervisors and its committees, serving as
what might be deemed a one-house local Congress, processes
an amazing amount of potential and realized legislative
matters. It establishes the policy for a tremendously
wide scope of civic activities and improvement. The over-
whelming amount of detail which is proces'ed by the Board
and its committees in lengthy and extensive meetings runs
the entire gamut of affairs handled by local government.
Merely by way of illustration, a few of the Board's
activities are cited, The Board approves public welfare
payments; carefully scrutinizes and then adopts the annual
budget of the City and Count;/; determines, as an appellate
body, appeals from decisions of the City Planning Commission;
sits annually as a County Board of Equalization and adjusts
property assessments; closely screens and makes supple-
mental appropriations for all departmental purposes;
purchases, leases and sells real property; and enacts
traffic regulations. In addition, the Board authorizes
street improvements; reviews proposed bond issues and
charter amendments and, if acceptable, directs submission
of them to the voters; establishes salaries for all City
employees; and generally exercises not only a legislative
but also a supervisory control of the entire local govern-
ment through its grasp of the purse strings.
CLERK'S OFFICE.
1. i'f-nction,". gc-nevrally.
In order to carry out the administrative and clerical func-
tions attendant upon the Board's actions, the Charter has
made provisions for the Board to appoint an executive head
of its office. Pie is designated the Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors, and is ex-officio Clerk of the Board of
Equalization. The Clerk has charge of the office and
records of the Board and its committees, and the personnel
employed to handle the business affairs and operations of
the Bo.-.rd, its committees and members when engaged in
official duties. Additionally, the Clerk must keep a
Journal of Proceedings of the Board and files of ail
ordinances and resolutions, properly indexed. He is
responsible for publication of ordinances, resolutions
and other matters acted upon by the Board and, as the
Charter states, has other duties and responsibilities
prescribed by the Board,
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A3 a matter of actual practice, the Clerk, while in no way
a participant in the formulation of policy, acts as consul-
tant to the Board, its committees and members in connection
with the most or all of the official matters presented to
them. To the best of his ability, he affords his counsel
to the members, when requested, for consideration along with
information from other sources. The Clerk and his staff are
impressed into service continually for the purpose of draft-
ing proposed charter amendments, ordinances and resolutions.
In addition, when directed, the;; prepare statements and cor-
respondence for the members. In other communities, a compar-
able position is that of City Clerk, inasmuch as San Fran-
cisco has a County Clerk whose functions are directly and
solely connected with the rendition of services to the
Superior Court.
2. Personnel,
The Clerk has a staff consisting of principally clerical
personnel which attends to the administrative business of
the Board. The staff is a highly experienced one and nor-
mally its members have come into the Clerk's office via
the promotional route from other departments of City govern-
ment. It is interesting to note that, since the Super-
visor's office is acutely aware of the need for economy and
industry in local government, its fifteen-member staff has
not been increased between 1932 and 1966. During that same
period of time, since the advent of the new Charter, the
growth of the community and the added services provided by
local government have obviously increased greatly along
with the demands made upon the Supervisors and their staff,
3. Piccords,
Mention already has been made of the Journal of Proceedings
which is the basic recording instrument for the Board's
official activities. In addition thereto, the Clerk's office
maintains bound volumes of original signed ordina ces end
resolutions, bound volumes containing copies of all pub-
lished legislation, bound copies of volumes entitled ''Muni-
cipal Reports" which were published during the period i860-
1919, and file jackets containing complete documentation
with respect to current and past legislative matters. In
addition to the various volumes which are available in the
Clerk's office as records of the Board's actions, a number
of indices are maintained which afford the searcher an
easy lead to the contents of the volumes. They include a
journal index, a Kardex, a Cha index, a system of cards re-
flecting oil changes in Municipal Code and Administrative
Code sections, and various indices to actions which occurred
prior to the year 19lj-8 when the current filing system was
established.
General, regulatory and penal ordinances of the Board Are
compiled in the San Francisco Municipal Code. Part I of
the Code relates to certain administrative matters, and Part
III of the Code pertains to license fees and permit procedure,
Part II of the Municipal Code contains eleven chapters,
each of which is devoted to a particular aspect of municipal
regulation. For instance, there is a Police Code, a Fire
Code, a Health Code, a Housing Code, a City Planning Code,
and so forth. Each of the eleven chapters in Part II are
reviewed and reprinted periodically in order that up-to-date
regulations may be available for distribution to the public.
Prices for Codes are established on the basis of cost to
the City, and they may be purchased at the office of the
Purchaser of Supplies in the City Hall. In addition to the
Municipal Code, there recently has been approved and printed
the San Francisco Administrative Code. That, as its name
implies, is an enactment which the Charter permits the Board
to male in specifying or detailing the respective powers,
duties, methods and procedure in the several departments and
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offices. Its primary purpose is to codify in one place all
administrative directives of the legislative body, not
only for the guidance of local officials, but also for
the enlightenment of the general cublic with respect to
the administrative and procedural matters set forth
therein.
[X. CONCLUSION.
Because of the unusual nature of our City Government, the
members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors actually
do two jobs. In the role of City Councilmen, they are
responsible for all the laws, ordinances, regulations and
long-torm project plans covering every part of life within
the City, as well as the efficient and economical expendi-
ture of all funds derived from taxes and other revenues.
They must have personal knowledge and. understanding of each
of the City's many operations and services, and spend
endless hours in the effort to improve and make them more
efficient and economical.
In their role of County Supervisors, they must coordinate
all State arid Federal legislation which affects the City
and must maintain an active, vigilant participation in
legislation at all levels to safeguard our interests.
In a determined effort to assure a special type of govern-
ment adapted as ideally as possible to serve the particular
requirements and demands of San Franciscans, the free-
holders devisod a hybrid structure which incorporates some
of the best features of the strong-mayor, city manager,
and commission types. They wanted to place greater res-
ponsibility on a few men in high office by reducing the
number of elected officers. They wanted to replace
political appointees with professionally-trained administra-
tors. They wanted to bring about greater efficiency and
economy in city affairs by using businesslike management.
They wanted to create a charter which would make good
government easier to achieve.
To the achievement of all those salutary ends, each member
of the Board of Supervisors is dedicated.
ROBERT J. DOLAN
CLERK OF THE BOARD
March 31, I960
Revised IO/1/6I4.
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